A bit off topic I know, but i'm running out of ideas.I've downloaded the trial version of Acronus and am having great difficulty finding out if it will cover my specific needs. I've tried both their email and 'live chat' options (which is actually a computer), but cannot get a straight answer thus far..I have four 200Gb HDDs installed (NOT RAID). Each drive has two partitions. My prefered backup is to clone (sector by sector) each partition individually, to another individual partition on a different hard drive.With Acronis, I can only see options for cloning whole drives. Can anyone tell me if this is possible, and how.Many thanks

I have Acronis. I don't call it "cloning"--but I have made images of certain portions of my hard drive. So yes, you can make partials.I have, for example, an image with H:FSX on it. And that is all that is in the image.I have another, that is my entire C: drive.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Hi Phil ('Dougal'),I've been using Acronis very successfully for two years now and although I'm still using version 10 I believe the current version works in very much the same way.As far as I'm aware the clone option applies to an entire disk as you have found. As you may know this clones all the partitions and the partition table of the disk so that the cloned layout is an exact copy of the original. The point here is that the location of the partition on the disk is also copied so that copying the partition data only would not be sufficient.However, using the partition imaging feature of Acronis lets you make a precise copy of all the data in a partition and restore that pretty much to any other partition you want (although bootable operating system partitions must be restored as 'active').Can I ask why you want to clone an individual partition rather than make an image of it? An image only differs from a clone in that the data may be compressed in the backup and the precise layout of data within the image will differ. When you restore it the partition will be created as it was originally.I've used this method many times with no problems of corrupted data etc. and trust it completely now. I've used external image backups to USB drives but most often make use of the Acronis Secure Zone (SZ) for speed and simplicity. All you need is an internal hard disk with sufficient capacity and let Acronis do the rest. I have four disks in my current machine: 2 WD raptors for the OS and FS9/FSX, another disk for media and other data storage and another big disk for backups of software and a big partition dedicated to the SZ. With your machine spec. image backups to the SZ should fly. My machine is similar and it takes me less than 3 hours to backup around 300Gb spread across 7 partitions.You might also want to check out the Acronis forums (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=64) as there is loads of useful info and I'm sure your question may get a more expert answer than I can give :) Rob

If you want a free version of Acronis, just download DiscWizard from Seagate or MaxBlast from Maxtor, as they include version 10 and the only limitations, I believe, are the ability to perform "incremental" backups - otherwise fully functional.Regards, Kendall

HelloThanks for that tip

Very many thanks for the feedback.The reason i so like the direct 'sector to sector' cloning, is that i'm not then 'tied' to any one application when in need of restoration. It also allows for a much wider scope of copying..... like partition 2 of disk 1 say, to partition 1 of disk 4. Also, providing the destination partition is bigger (or the same) than the actual amount of data stored on the source, then size is not an issue - the empty space is just ignored. At least that's how it works with 'Ghost'.I have Norton Ghost 2004 that i bought several years ago, which does (did) this very well and EXTREMELY quickly. However, for some reason, I now get multiple errors when trying to use it. I understand that i'm not alone in this, and that it may have something to do with Windows XP-Pro SP2 service pack. Also, i've gone 'right off' Norton stuff, it being such a resource hog.EDIT: Rob, where are you seeing this option in Acronis? I don't see it in the trial version....."However, using the partition imaging feature of Acronis lets you make a precise copy of all the data in a partition and restore that pretty much to any other partition you want (although bootable operating system partitions must be restored as 'active')."Thanks

I'm using version 11.0 and I know you can do sector by sector with this one. I used to depend on the system restore feature of XP to save my bacon but, I'm finding the True Image software has much greater flexibility and has become my "idiot prevention" software of choice. Definitely worth the cost.Regards,Jeff

Thanks Jeff, and others.I've also, finally located an online PDF manual that confirms all you've said. Seems the trial version obviously has some restrictions.Will now purchase licence.

Eeeeek! My head hurts - and confusion ruleth!Finally had an email back from Acronis. They confirm I can copy an individual partition, but as a 'backup' file - a 'tib' file. This is not 'cloning' or 'ghosting' the partition. This is making an image of the files on that partition.I'd like to hear from anyone who back's up in the manor I'm looking for.... i.e. Ghosting or cloning the partition. This includes EVERYTHING, including any MBR, PT of FAT that may be there. It is a 'sector by sector' clone. This method alows for simple disk swapping.Thanks again